I am excited to be sharing insights from our latest research project, Hacking Longevity, with members of CALA on June 6th, 2018 in Sacramento. We’ll be discussing generational differences that make communication across three generations of older adults trickier, plus looking at Generation X as the new generation of family caregivers.

The theme for this year’s CALA Spring Conference and Trade Show event is “Elevate”:

On my radarare trend bytes – a gathering of observations – that indicate a larger trend is at work.

I had the pleasure of reading and reviewing the book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo for a boomer-focused blog. It’s a hot trend right now. In my research I consistently hear older adults say that they have a lot of stuff. They tell me it keeps them from moving and “rightsizing” their living situation. They say it makes them depressed. Most of all they tell me their kids don’t want their stuff! After hearing about the Kondo method on television, I thought I’d check it out. I tried it in my own house (and am continuing to use it)! It is freeing to rid yourself of things you no longer wear or use.

Just this week, I was sitting in on a focus group for my latest project and heard of a twist on this idea. When asked about their passions, one woman in the group said she was really excited about “death packing.” She went on to describe a process similar to Kondo’s but is about gradually getting rid of things so that your loved ones don’t have to.

We have a television show called Hoarders: Buried Alive and consignment shops have successfully sprung up across the nation. In some cities, there are waiting lists for self-storage units, even though there are 50,000 storage facilities in the U.S. — five times the number of Starbucks. That’s 2.3 billion square feet. The backyard shed business is a lucrative one – 25% of people with two-car garages can’t park a car in one. We use eBay, craigslist, and NextDoor to unload things.

It’s a Trend!

“For the first time in history of the world, two generations are downsizing simultaneously,” referring to our oldest population and the boomer generation.

With the youngest of the boomer generation in their mid-50s, there are years of opportunity ahead for companies who can help people plan, organize, store, and get rid of their possessions. I wrote about this trend for MediaPost a year ago and heard from many people going through this with their parents. There are high tech and no tech solutions here, some with very little start-up cost for the solopreneur. What do you think about the issue of being “over-stuffed” and the idea of death cleaning? I would love to hear from you!

Lori Bitter will moderate a panel on “The intergenerational imperative” at the ICAA Conference 2017. Bitter and colleagues will dive deeper into the companies, organizations and new initiatives working toward an intergenerational future. This session will explore the latest research, look at the workplace and importance of purpose, and provide a case-study view of successful projects.

Intergenerational. It’s the hot new buzzword in aging though it’s been around for years. It’s also steaming hot at a time when ageism is rampant and headlines report workplace warfare between Boomers and Millennials. To be sure, the unrest is real. Boomers lost jobs during the Great Recession and have struggled to earn again at the same rate. Millennials stayed in their parents’ homes, not earning enough to launch into an independent adult life. Throw family caregiving for loved ones into the mix and a clear pattern of interdependency begins to be clear.

SEISMIC SHIFTS
How did we get here? The current picture starts with increases in longevity. Since 1900 we’ve added 30 additional years of life. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the number of Americans living into their 90s will quadruple between 2010 and 2050,4 while the United Nations projects a 351% increase in the global population of adults 85+ over that same period. Unfortunately, the expectations of roles and life stages are rooted in the 1960s. Contrary to common thought, those 30 additional years aren’t simply tacked onto the end of life. Rather, they are distributed throughout the adult life stages, creating seismic shifts that our culture has yet to catch up with.

“By ‘understanding the real root of what is happening across the generational spectrum,’ we can create approaches that recognize interdependencies plus value and benefit all generations”

Young adulthood, midlife and old age are all being transformed by the addition of these years. Yet the changes continue to be written off as generational stereotypes. Understanding the real root of what is happening across the generational spectrum allows us to recognize it and work with it for the benefit of all generations

We are culturally stuck in the life stage paradigm of the last century. We followed a fairly consistent and predictable life script: 1. Go to School
2. Find a Job 3. Get Married 4. Have Children 5. Work Hard 6. Retire.

A few lucky people had some years of leisure before they died. This model has gone the way of the rotary phone, but the universal mindset has not made the change. Or, as author and gerontologist Barbara Waxman says in The Middlescence Manifesto, “We have a cultural lag. People have a lot of needless dissonance between perception and the reality of how our lives are unfolding.”

Markers of change
Life is messier. The predictable script is gone. Yet there is a discomfort with the idea of not living up to the old ideal. Consider some of these markers of change:

Young adults
Taking longer to enter and finish education
Waiting longer to marry
Waiting longer to have children

Older adults
Working to age 70 and beyond
Remarrying
Continuing education

Adulthood at every stage has seen shifts. Rather than using ageist stereotypes to put one generation down to elevate another, or feeling uncomfortable for not fitting an old-school life map, we can embrace this opportunity to create an intergenerational approach that recognizes our inherent interdependencies and values every generation for their contributions.

CHANGING PARADIGMS
Let’s examine some areas in which the shifting maps of adulthood contribute to significant intergenerational issues.

Housing
Housing is one of the industries most impacted by these life stage changes. In the US, more than 50% of Boomers have less than USD$100k saved for retirement, though many view their homes as a significant retirement asset. Most will need to sell the large family home and convert that equity to retirement income. But the demand for these homes may be very small. (This will force many Boomers to look to financial tools such as reverse mortgages.)

Millennials are not purchasing their own homes at the same rates of previous generations. They report the size of their student loans as the major issue in not being able to save for a down payment or qualify for a mortgage. With student-loan debt topping USD$1.4 trillion (and growing), research by Citizens Bank found that 60% of college graduates ages 35 and younger expect to be paying these loans into their 40s. Concern also transcends generational divides. Research conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows that 2.8 million borrowers are 60 years or older, parents and grandparents of Millennial students.

The rental market
The dream of home ownership isn’t just an issue for younger generations. In 2016, home ownership in the US reached an historic low. While Millennials are part of the issue, surging Boomer interest in renting can’t be discounted.

A 2015 study by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University found that families and married couples ages 45–64 accounted for roughly twice the share of renter growth as households under age 35. In urban areas with highly competitive rental markets, it is younger renters who are losing to older renters with greater ability to pay, creating increased need for affordable rental housing.

To manage the cost of living in their homes or high rents, Boomers increasingly choose to live with a roommate. Just like Millennials, Boomers also live with roommates for social reasons. Companies, like Silvernest.com, are emerging to help older adults find roommates and provide a range of services to ensure the success of the match. Some of these matches end up being from multiple generations.

Multigenerational living
Alternatively, there is a growing trend of Boomers remaining in the larger family home and housing multiple generations under the same roof. In 2014, a record 60.6 million people, or 19% of the US population, lived with multiple generations under one roof, according to Pew Research Center. For the first time, young adults have replaced elders as the second adult generation in the household.

Three-generation households—grandparents, parents and grandchildren—include more than 27 million people, while about a million people live in households with more than three generations. Another 3.2 million Americans live in grandparent/grandchild homes. Developers have begun to recognize the needs of these households and have created models to accommodate multiple generations. Companies have evolved to create accessory dwellings—nicknamed “granny garages”—to place on properties with existing homes to house family members. And nonprofits, like Fairhill Partners in Cleveland, Ohio, have developed apartments for grandparents raising grandchildren.

The rise in multigenerational living is one reason why fewer Americans live alone now than they did in 1990.

Caregiving
Increased longevity means more generations are now involved in providing care to older loved ones. In the US, the average age of family caregivers is trending younger at 49 years old. Caregiving has also become much more of a family affair. Generation X and the Millennial Generation are stepping into caregiving roles—47% of caregivers are 18–49 years of age. Part of this shift is due to their availability to provide care due to unemployment or underemployment.

The National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP report that 20% of caregivers are over age 65. There are also 1.4 million (and this estimate is low) children ages 8–18 who take care of a parent, grandparent or other elder, according to the American Association of Caregiving Youth. These hidden caregivers miss school, have little normal social life, and no support network as they navigate caring for the adults in their lives.

A looming crisis?
Cultural shifts have also led to changes in family structures and stability. Divorced and remarried at “unprecedented levels” in their younger years, Boomers have largely been responsible for the doubling of divorce rates in the 50-and-older age group since 1990. Their families are also typically smaller (fewer than two children). So what will caregiver support look like in the future?

In 2010, the ratio of available caregivers to people requiring care was 7:1. This number will continue to fall, to 4:1, as America’s Boomers push over the 80-year-old threshold in 2030. Between 2030 and 2040, the 80+ population will increase 44% while the number of caregivers increases by only 10%. The ratio completely bottoms out to less than 3:1 in 2040, when the Boomers are in old, old age. (In fact, caregiver support ratios will tumble in many countries worldwide.) Additionally, the higher percentage of unmarried Boomers and Boomers without children will require new kinds of support systems not dependent on family caregivers.

Technology is emerging to address some aspects of care. There is still a growing gap, however, in the number of jobs that will be created as a result of aging, and the number of people available to fill those roles.

Aging workforce
Who will work in aging? At some point in the 1980s, vocational education began to disappear from high schools, and the expectation grew that the majority of graduates would go to college. The tide is turning. But it’s not turning fast enough to create the healthcare and technology workforce required for the aging Boomers.

Emerging models aim to address the need for this workforce, with a focus on bridging the generational divide. Connect The Ages is a social enterprise on a mission to connect 5 million students to careers in aging by 2025. The time is certainly right to bridge the potential of Millennials and Generation Z to the aging population.

“Most students aren’t aware jobs in aging even exist, let alone future-proof, interdisciplinary jobs with room for advancement,” says 28-year-old Connect The Ages Founder and AARP Innovation Fellow Amanda Cavaleri. “We want to help educators introduce careers in aging to students by first bridging generational divides. Through our grassroots campaigns, students experience the often unknown positive side of aging and have opportunities to explore this impactful, purposeful work.”

Connect The Ages has released interviews with dozens of Millennials in aging, including architects, entrepreneurs, healthcare workers, lawyers, policymakers and technologists. Complementing the interviews is a national grassroots outreach and intergenerational storytelling and mentorship campaign. Many of the Millennials who work in aging report finding the field entirely by chance. This is not a sustainable way to meet the industry’s needs. Connect the Ages wants to create an active strategy to engage more young people in the field.

THE IMPERATIVE
We are just scratching the surface of understanding the interconnectedness of the generations and the need to work together toward solving the issues ahead of us. The imperative for our organizations, and our industry, is to discover, support and create initiatives that work toward a better-connected intergenerational future that will advance the aging field with young people and benefit everyone. We’ve never needed each other more.

References

1. National Institute on Aging and World Health Organization. (2011). Global Health and Aging. Living Longer, pp. 6–8. NIH Publication no. 11-7737. Retrieved on June 25, 2017, from https://www.nia.nih.gov/research/publication/global-health-and-aging/living-longer.

9. Joint Center for Housing Studies, Harvard University. (2015). The State of the Nation’s Housing 2015. Retrieved on June 26, 2017, from http://www.jchs.harvard.edu/research/publications/state-nations-housing-2015.

10.Cohn, D., & Passel, J. S. (2016). FactTank News in the Numbers. A record 60.6 million Americans live in multigenerational households. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center. Retrieved on June 27, 2017, from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/08/11/a-record-60-6-million-americans-live-in-multigenerational-households.

11. National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP Public Policy Institute. (2015). Caregiving in the US 2015. Retrieved on June 27, 2017, from http://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/ppi/2015/caregiving-in-the-united-states-2015-report-revised.pdf.

12. American Association of Caregiving Youth. (2015). More Facts about Caregiving Youth. Accessed on June 28, 2017, from https://www.aacy.org/index.php/more-facts-about-caregiving-youth.

14. Redfoot, D., Feinberg, L., & Houser, A. (2013). The Aging of the Baby Boom and the Narrowing Care Gap: A Look at Future Declines in the Availability of Family Caregivers. INSIGHT on the Issues, 85. Washington, DC: AARP Public Policy Institute. Retrieved on June 27, 2017, from http://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/research/public_policy_institute/ltc/2013/baby-boom-and-the-growing-care-gap-insight-AARP-ppi-ltc.pdf.

15. Centre for Policy on Ageing. (2014). CPA Rapid Review. The care and support of older people–an international perspective. Retrieved on June 28, 2017, from http://www.cpa.org.uk/information/reviews/CPA-Rapid-Review-The-care-and-support-of-older-people-an-international-perspective.pdf.

We must end the conversations pitting generation against generation. It’s ageist and supports generational stereotypes that don’t value the best that young and older people have to offer – especially to each other. It’s time for a new narrative that highlights the importance of the unprecedented shifts every generation is experiencing, one that reflects the commonalities as opposed to differences.

We’ve added more than three decades to our lives since 1900. But contrary to the way many people think about those years, they are not simply tacked onto to the end life. These extra years are an expansion of every stage of life. We see it when young people take a gap year before starting college or are waiting until later in life to leave home, marry and start their own families. Midlife is expanding, as people work longer, return to school, and create new careers. And certainly old age is longer as well, as the number of Americans living into their nineties is expected to quadruple by 2050.

Work

Daily headlines perpetuate a myth of generational angst between Boomers and Millennials in the workplace, when the reality is they have much more in common than simply coping with a stretched out life map. Younger generations believe that they alone seek purpose and meaning in their work. The Workplace Purpose indicates that more than 25% do; but that number is 39% for 55-64 year olds and rises 47% after 65.

The baby boomer generation says they’ve felt the need to compete since they started working – there were so many people entering the job market at the same time, and over a long period. Younger generations say they aren’t sure how to compete; or as one person recently told me, “When you get participation trophies for everything, you have no idea what you are good — or bad — at. It can be paralyzing.”

Debt Load

Student loan debt has topped $1.4 trillion. Research by Citizens Bank found that 60% of those under 35 will be paying off these debts far into their 40s, with the rest of the burden falling to boomer parents. Boomers are paying off loans at the risk of their own retirement savings. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York research shows that 2.8 million borrowers are over 60.

Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping by and Get Your Financial Life Together, says,”Millennials get a lot of the press when it comes to the student loan crisis and how it will affect our futures, but there are boomers who are of retirement age and still dealing with student loans, many of which were probably taken out for a millennial child. Concerns about paying off debt and being able to retire comfortably transcends generational divides.”

Homeownership — And Finding Roommates

Last year, home ownership rates fell to an historic low – partly because millennials can’t buy or don’t value homeownership in the same way as previous generations; boomers value their homes as a significant retirement asset, as 50% have less than $100,000 saved. Reverse mortgage products have become more attractive as boomers can’t sell to younger buyers.

The growing interest among boomers to rent rather than own shouldn’t be discounted in low rates of ownership. A 2015 study by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard found that people 45 – 64 accounted for twice the share of rental growth as those under 35. In major cities, boomers are dominating the rental market, making it even harder for younger people to find affordable housing. People of all ages are turning to new sites like Silvernest and SpareRoom, which help connect homeowners with roommates.

Multigenerational Living

In 2014, a record 60.6 million people, or 19% of the U.S. population, lived with multiple generations under one roof, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of census data. Young adults have replaced older people as the second adult generation in the household. Among people 25 – 29, 31% are residents of multigenerational households. Nearly half of all multigenerational households are comprised of grandparents, parents and grandchildren. This is one reason why the rate of older Americans living alone has dropped since 1990.

Caregiving

The average age of a family caregiver is now 49.2 years old and trending younger. Forty-eight percent of caregivers are 18 – 49 years old. With more generations under the same roof, caregiving is becoming a family affair. Seven percent of grandchildren are taking of their grandparents.

Still, there is a looming crisis of care. In 2010, the ratio of caregivers to people needing care was 7:1; in 2030, it will be 4:1. The 80+ population will increase by 44% between 2030 and 2040; the number of caregivers available will only increase by 10%. The situation completely bottoms out in the 2040s as the boomers are in old, old age. For the next 25 years we will need to attract young people to the field of aging services in huge numbers. Right now, these types of jobs aren’t even on their radar.

The generational interdependencies are clear. The issues are magnified because of the size of the boomer and millennial generations, but the issues of today will surely be repeated as the millennials begin to age, many past the age of 100 — the gift of new longevity.

In a single century, we have extended human lifespan by 35+ years. At the same time, technology has evolved to the point where we can now communicate instantaneously across oceans, benefit from software which coordinates care and manages health.

We have even created robots which sense emotion and even lead group exercises. Not only are we living longer. We are living better!

It’s no wonder that technology and innovations that serve our aging communities are such a hot-topic. The Ageing Asia Innovation Forum, hosted this year in Singapore, brings-together professionals, inventors, and problem solvers from all over the world. During this meeting, they had the opportunity to sample a new line of food products: Health Food Matters. The founder, Grace Gan, calls it a functional food product because it is intended for people who have feeding issues.

Gregorian was one of the few environmental gerontologists in attendance at these meetings. By and large, the Forum brings designers, inventors, and product-developers together.

On exhibit was a plethora of products and designs meant to make life more comfortable, and nutritious for people with feeding issues. In other words, people who need help feeding themselves, or who need to be fed.

Grace Gan, a native Singaporean, developed this line of functional food products in response to the older people in her own family. The product line is called Health Food Matters, with the subtitle, “Restoring the Joy of Eating.” It is steadily gaining popularity across Singapore, perhaps because it does make eating a more joyous and dignified experience for consumers – and their caregivers.

The original market for Health Food Matters was older adults, and people living with a disability. Gan at first marketed exclusively to care centers and retirement residences across Singapore.

Gan, a speech therapist by training, had spent a lot of time working with patients in Singapore’s care-centers. She was frequently present when meals were served, and she noticed that food-preparation, serving and eating were fraught with stress and tension.

Even more important, Gan noticed that feeding was as stressful for the caregivers and wait staff, as it was for patients who were being fed.

It is familiar that the sense of taste begins to dull as people grow older, affecting the ability to taste, smell and savor food. This is true even for people aging-in-place at home, where there is more control over what is on the menu, and how it has been prepared. In care settings, the dulling of taste buds is compounded by loss of control over menu, and dining conditions.

To compound matters, many older adults in institutional care live with neurocognitive disorders that cause dysphagia, a nutritional disorder characterized by difficulty swallowing, malnutrition and dehydration. Malnutrition and dehydration, in turn, contributes to other conditions such as bed sores, infection and hypoglycemia.

When Grace Gan visited Singapore’s care centers, she noticed that it was common practice to thicken food with milk supplements. The idea was that this would make institutional food more nutritious and more palatable. But, in fact, Gan believed that the result was neither nutritious, nor palatable. Milk supplements did not typically enhance appetite, or contribute to better health.

Gan developed Health Food Matters as a way to enhance appetite by making its functional food line taste more like familiar food, and have what professionals call, the “Mouth Feel” of eating familiar food. In taste and texture, Health Food Matters has the taste and “Mouth Feel” of familiar food, but is much softer, and easier to eat.

Products range from porridges, side dishes, snacks and desserts to condiments and thickeners with a variety of flavors that serve different functions. As an alternative to thickened fluids, apple ENA-charge fruit jelly for instance, supplement fiber while apricot fruit jelly supplement zinc and iron. Calcium sprinkles can be added to porridges or side dishes providing flavor, color, and extra vitamins which combat low appetite and malnutrition.

In addition to keeping patients in mind when developing functional food products, Health Food Matters has benefits for caregivers. Most important, it relieves them of many meal-related burdens: chopping and cutting food, feeding patients or assisting them when they feed themselves, and the perpetual chore of cleaning-up.

Portions tend to be small, but are densely packed with extra nutrients, proteins and calories. This achieves nutritional goals for patients, and gives caregivers an unexpected bonus. The Health Food Matters philosophy also harmonizes with Singapore’s efficiency-driven culture: Mealtime becomes more “Efficient.” Less food is wasted, and less time is spent coaxing patients to eat. This resonates with local nutritionists and caregivers because Singapore is a culture which strives for efficiency.

One reason for the efficiency, is that this product-line is easily prepared. Caregivers simply submerge prepackaged food bundles in heated water. Nurses and care staff can focus on caring for residents rather than worrying about the viscosity and portion-size.

Products range from porridges, side dishes, snacks and desserts, to condiments and thickeners with a variety of flavors that serve different functions. As an alternative to thickened fluids, apple ENA-charge fruit jelly for instance, supplement fiber while apricot fruit jelly supplement zinc and iron.

Calcium Sprinkles, another of Gan’s innovative products, can be sprinkled over porridges or side dishes to enhance flavor, color, and nutritional value. Caregivers tell Gan that the Calcium Sprinkles also make food look more festive and inviting.

Grace Gan believes that Health Food Matters will eventually be a welcome alternative to forced-feeding. Thanks to this Singapore-based product, older people all over the world can one day look forward to enjoyable dining, in the company of family or friends.

Above all, Health Food Matters makes mealtime into dining once again. Health Food Matters restores dignity to breakfast, lunch, and dinner in long-term care facilities. Eating can and should be a social experience, something which is true everywhere from Singapore to Seattle.

Singapore is considered to be a leader in applying cutting-edge, sustainable, technology to geriatrics. Technology-based interventions, such as robotics, are already making long-term care facilities more efficient. Health Food Matters may be doing this for meals and mealtime in long-term care.

Singapore is a world leader in developing and applying technology to geriatrics. Health Food Matters has been proven to make mealtime a more efficient experience. It may well be that this product-line can also make mealtime a more spiritual and social experience. For older people and people with disabilities. That would be the proverbial icing on the cake!

Israel is no amateur when it comes to creating new and revolutionary products. This powerhouse, nicknamed The Start-Up Nation, is now at the forefront of “The Business of Aging.” VitalGo’s Total Lift Bed, developed by Israel’s Ohad Paz and Ofer Parezky, is one of the examples of this kind of revolutionary product. VitalGo’s remarkable bed has already made life safer and easier for older people in Israel and many countries around the world.

Upright Tilting Functionality

The Total Lift Bed (TLB) has a unique, “…upright tilting functionality” (UHS, 2015:1), which helps patients sit up, stand and start moving away from the safety of the patient’s bed. This makes it a very therapeutic bed, thus making the TLB more than just a comfortable place to sleep. Click here to see a demonstration of Total Lift Bed.

One hospital in the US tested how the TLB worked for their patients. They found that patients who were tilted up several times per day improved more in a shorter period of time, and more of them were able to go home than patients who were confined to bed and had traditional therapy (UHS, 2015:1). TLB’s unique functionality minimizes the risk of falling out of bed, and helps contribute to shorter hospital stays.

The Total Lift Bed is FDA registered and is used in Israel, USA, Germany, Austria, U.K, Switzerland, Italy, France, Australia and Norway. Some hospitals in the US include: The Cleveland Clinic, John Hopkins, Stanford University Hospital, Carolinas Specialty Hospital, Florida Memorial and various Veteran Affairs (VA) hospitals.

Seniors, whether in hospital or in their own homes, and regardless of whether they are in good health or not, have a higher risk of falling and becoming less mobile. Immobility then increases the risk of many health conditions and furthers the risk of falling and decline in quality of life. The use of the bed decreases this risk.

Many of the patients who have used the TLB have reported that, “This bed undoubtedly saved my life!” The hospital where the study was done found that the TLB “…improved patient-outcomes, the cost-effectiveness of providing care, and the satisfaction of patients and their families.” (UHS, 2015:1).

Israel and The Business of Aging

Israel’s demographics make it an ideal marketplace for TLB. In July of 2016, The Jerusalem Post estimated that 10.6 percent of Israel’s population, or 866,000 people, are now over 65.

According to a recent UN publication: “For most nations, regardless of their geographic location or developmental stage, the 80 or over age group is growing faster than any other segment of the population.” Global aging has thus created an international marketplace for the TLB in the world’s hospitals, rehab centers, and personal residences for people who wish to “age in place” in their own homes. VitalGo’s marketing efforts are responsive to the fact that there is already a worldwide need for the TLB, both in hospitals and at home.

Aging-in-Place, With Dignity

Many seniors prefer to age-in-place (at home) whenever possible. Safety concerns, aging minds and decreased strength and mobility, along with increased risk of falling (especially getting up out of bed where many falls occur) can make aging in place challenging or unsafe. The chances of falling out of a bed, a chair, or down a flight of stairs increases with age, even for the healthiest of seniors.

One of the key goals in the development of the Total Lift Bed has been to help Seniors age in place with safety and dignity.

At home, or in the hospital, the TLB does most of the lifting that caregivers (whether they be trained professionals or loved ones) would ordinarily give. The TLB does not replace the human touch, but rather, enhances the ability of the caregiver to provide the healing touches needed, without the heavy lifting that leads to caregiver burnout and risk of injury. Additionally, being able to be raised smoothly and effortlessly enhances the quality of the mobility experience, without having to worry about hurting their nurse or loved one who is helping them to get up and move.

With the push of a button, whether at home or in the hospital, TLB contributes to mobility and self-confidence. Hence, individuals, patients and caregivers (whether professionals or loved ones) are beneficiaries of the Total Lift Bed.

References

“Israel’s Elderly Population To Double By 2035,Statistics Bureau Says” The Jerusalem Post, July 28, 2016

Biosketch: Paula Adelman has an eclectic background and divided her time working in sports, raising 2 wonderful sons and helping the aging population. She has a business degree, with an emphasis on entrepreneurship. She divides her time between the US and Israel. Paula is the founder of BoomerSurf.com, an American/Israeli based tech start-up. Through BoomerSurf, she is helping Boomers and Seniors manage computer, tablet and smartphone tasks online and through It improve their connection to family, friends and community. For more information visit: BoomerSurf.com.

India’s economic boom has brought technology to the masses. And no technology has been as transformative in India than the smartphone. More affordable than the laptop or ipad, the smartphone has almost become a necessity in India.

Until about ten years ago, it would have been unheard of for lower-income Indians to own, or even have access to smart phones. But by 2016, millions of Indian people had smartphones. In fact, a 2016 survey of 70 nations worldwide found that India had the world’s second-largest number of smartphone users, exceeded only by China. (Wikipedia, “List of Countries [N=70] by Number of Mobile Phones in Use”).

By 2017, the number of mobile phone users in India is projected to be 730.7 million, again the world’s second highest number after China. An estimated 10% of them, or 73 million, will be Indians aged 50+. And nearly 10% of them will have smartphones (Forbes, “India Becomes the World’s Second-Largest Smartphone Market,” 3 February, 2016.)

India’s mature markets have embraced mobile phone usage with gusto. Although people aged 60+ now comprise only 7.5% of India’s vast population, the percentage who are mobile phone users is higher than in younger cohorts of the population.

According to The Times of India, the percentage of mobile phone users aged 55+ had “…practically doubled between 2012 and 2013…rising from 5% in 2012, to 9% in 2013.” (Forbes, 3 February, 2016). As India is reshaped by the Age Wave, smartphone usage will continue to rise. Without a doubt, mature markets will continue impacting on the development and marketing of smartphones.

The Business of Aging: India’s Age Wave Shapes Smartphone Markets

During the past 6 years, the price of smartphones in India dropped steadily, which has both increased demand for smartphones, and encouraged the introduction of India’s first “Senior-Friendly” smartphone.

In October of 2014, telecommunications giant Mitashi began marketing the Mitashi Senior Smartphone AP103 (NDTV Correspondent, “Mitashi Play Senior Friend Android Smartphone Launched at Rs. 4,999” Gadgets 360, Oct 21 2014). The AP103 was developed in response to India’s Age Wave, and was marketed aggressively to India’s Seniors. Among its selling points were:

The “SOS” Feature: In addition to standard smartphone features, such as internet, text-messaging, phone service and camera, the AP103 had an “SOS” feature, which allowed for rapid dialing to get help during an emergency; and

A “Senior-Friendly” Face: The AP103 offered larger font (by default), brighter colors, and larger buttons. This was supposed to make the AP103 is easier for visually impaired people to read. Its larger buttons were said to be easier on arthritic fingers.

The AP103 was not well received by Seniors, however. Sales were sluggish. Complaints and criticisms went viral. As early as 2014, the same year as the rollout, e-commerce websites were flooded with complaints and snarky reviews of the AP103.

For example, shortly after the roll-out in 2014, older people began complaining that the AP103’s microphone-system was faulty. Even worse, there were complaints about AP103’s battery life. According to comments and reviews on Amazon, battery-life was so low that the smartphone needed to be recharged more than once a day.

Worst of all, dissatisfied customers across India insisted that there was nothing especially “Senior Friendly” about the AP103. The time was right for competitors to step-in. A year later, in 2015, another telecommunications company did precisely that.

Smartphone Wars: Competition For A Market-Share

In 2015, SeniorWorld launched a competitive smartphone called EasyFone, which was also intended for mature markets. EasyFone had similar but more sophisticated features: An SOS emergency call button which texted for help along with telephoning; a battery which held its charge much longer; and a standing dock which doubled as a charger. The goal of this last feature was to automatically charge the phone every time it rested on this stand, thus eliminating the need for Seniors to (re)charge the smartphone

Other features include the option of adding photographs next to the names and phone numbers of important contacts; also, larger buttons and fonts. In addition, the EasyFone comes in brighter colors. Snappy colors, larger font, and the option of “photo calling,” or selecting phone numbers from the phone’s directory on the basis of a photo rather than a name) proved to be appealing to Seniors. Like Mitashi’s smartphone, this one is also inexpensive, priced at around $80.

There is also a SeniorWorldwebsite (Indian-based). Along with promoting the EasyFone, the SeniorWorld website offers a blog, healthcare self-testing options for older people, and even a “Hobbies” page which offers information on some of the most popular pass times of older people: Gardening, exercise, cooking and more.

EasyFone, along with the SeniorWorld website, have been well received by India’s Mature Markets. People who had bought this phone for their parents report that they seem to be happy with the phone, and involved with the website.

Like so many Third-World nations, India is now experiencing a demographic transition. Not only is India’s business world becoming more sensitive and responsive to the needs of the mature marketplace, the sheer size of that marketplace makes it more important than ever. The EasyFone is already being joined by new and more Senior-Friendly competitors. Senior-friendly products such as this are ringing-in a new age for Smartphones, and a new age for India as well.

The Times Of India, Seniors Ditch Old Tech, Call On Smartphones. November 7, 2014. Saritha Raj.

Wikipedia, “List of Countries [N=70] by Number of Mobile Phones in Use”.

Biosketch: Ushma Mody graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from Parsons, the New School for Design (New York), majoring in Interior Design. Her favored secondary subject was history – of art, design and architecture. During her time at Parsons, she was named to the Dean’s list, and also won the award for Outstanding Design upon graduating. She worked for Wid Chapman Architects in New York, post-graduation. She currently lives in India with her family, and will be a Masters student at New York School of Interior Design, beginning in the Fall 2016, semester. At NY School of Design she will focus on designing Sustainable Interior Environments.

This week’s installment features the work of Steve Minkin, and is edited by Jeffrey Rosenfeld, Ph.D. of Parsons School of Design.

When the embargo is finally lifted, Cuba could become an emerging market for American companies concerned with the “business of aging”. The statistics are strikingly clear. Cuba has one of the oldest populations in the Americas, and demographic trends virtually ensure that by 2030 the country will be the oldest in the hemisphere.

Cuba today has about 11.1 million inhabitants. The percentage of Cubans living into old age is moving higher everyday. In 2015, one out of every five Cubans was reported to be above 60 years old. By 2025 the ratio is expected rise to 1:4. In less than 10 years 25% of Cubans will be over 60.

In 2030, less than 15 years from now, 30% of Cubans will have entered their 60+ senior years. Revolutionary Successes: It is common demographic wisdom that healthy, educated societies have low birth rates. Pre-revolutionary Cuba was characterized by a stark contrast between the lives of the rich and poor with very little in between. The country was controlled by a dictatorial, mafia-connected, brutal and corrupt regime. The majority of the country was uneducated. Infant, child and maternal mortality was rampant.

From its inception the Castro government emphasized education and a system of free national health care. As a result, Cuba, although poor, boasts the highest literacy rates in the Americas and the lowest rates of infant, children and maternal mortality. By these demographic measures, Cuba fares better than the United States and is demographically comparable with Canada.

Cuba only spends a fraction of what we do on health care, but average Cuban life expectancy is equal to that in the United States.

One reason for Cuba’s longevity rate, is that this island nation is a very safe place to live. There is virtually no gun violence, and drugs are not a major social and public problem. Education and health have had powerful impacts on the age structure of Cuba. Most Cuban women delay childbirth in order to continue their educations and careers. The Cuban demographic profile is nearly reverse of that of most other Caribbean and Latin American countries, where the age structure looks like a pyramid. A pyramidic population is a “Young Population,” which means there is a high fertility rate, and lots of kids. The pyramid-shape results from the fact that the mortality rate is very high. Most of the children in a “Young Population” will die-off before they reach adolescence. As a result, the population narrows as the cohort gets older.

The Cuban age-structure is now comparable to that of other demographically aged nations, and not the younger Latin-American ones: The Cuban population-base is narrow. It “fattens” with the succession of years, because most people live longer than ever before. Cuba’s population is aging, and along with that, a larger percentage of Cubans are approaching “advanced old age” (80+) than ever before.

The Cuban government makes it easy to postpone having children. Family Planning is nearly free and medically safe abortions are easy to obtain. When children are born, the mother, or if the family chooses the father, is allowed one year paid leave. After that free childcare and nursery school is followed by tuition-free quality education, encompassing elementary and high school, university and professional schools. Physicians, engineers, scientists, as well as, teachers, artists, musicians, dancers and all other fields graduate debt-free. However, newly minted graduates enter a low wage job market that is still largely controlled by the state. As a result, many educated Cubans seek opportunities abroad as economic migrants in search of higher incomes. This partial brain drain contributes to the aging of the populations and creating a rift in the more comfortable patterns of elder care many Cubans have grown used to enjoying. In socialist Cuba, most families live in intergenerational homes or apartments that are owned free and clear of debt.

As a result, the Cuban family remains the most common source of support for the elderly. Cuban Seniors are culturally respected, and as required, they are cared for at home.

The government and/or the Catholic Church and other charities operate Casas Abuelos or so-called grandparents homes. These provide daytime recreational and cultural opportunities as well as meals, health and social services. The responsibility to ensure that elderly are not locked-in, ignored and depressed remains a community and governmental priority. Doctors and nurses and social workers regularly perform home visits. In the future the aging population will likely face new social dynamics as the economy opens up to private enterprise, which currently accounts for about 25% of GDP. Opportunities for buying and selling properties are increasing and increasing numbers of mobile young Cubans are choosing to live separately or migrate in search of work abroad.

As more elderly people live alone, tools for remote care will become increasingly necessary, especially in families where the younger generation has moved overseas. Emergency alert systems will find a place and could readily be incorporated into the existing neighborhood heath care structure based on 24 hours on-call medical services. Such devices could become widely available following investments in building the necessary technical and marketing infrastructures. The outdated US embargo, however, places US companies at a serious disadvantage. The Chinese, Canadians or Europeans are likely to dominate the field unless the Congress votes to end the embargo – the “white elephant” standing in the way of US-Cuban business opportunities.

This week The Business of Aging kicks off an amazing series of articles from all over the world, curated by the very talented Jeffrey Rosenfeld, Ph.D. of Parsons School of Design. Join us each week as we highlight innovation from: Israel by Paula Adelman; Singapore by Ani Gregorian; Mumbai by Ushma Mody; and Havana by Steve Minkin.

Edited by Jeffrey P. Rosenfeld, Ph.D. Parsons School of Design, New York, NY

Overview: It’s A Small World

Back in 1964, when I was still in my teens, I visited the World’s Fair, which was held that year in New York’s Flushing Meadows Park. I’ll never forget my ride through the Disney Pavilion, on a journey celebrating the idea that “It’s A Small World After All.”

Visitors to the Disney Pavilion embarked on a magical journey to more than 75 nations. Visitors sat four-across in gondolas which each held about 40 people. Together we floated across Disney’s small world, serenaded by a farrago of singing, dancing (robotic) children. Every nation was represented by children in national garb, who were merrily singing “It’s A Small World After All,” in each of their native languages.

At the time, it had not dawned on me — and probably on most of the other people in our gondola — that those same nations could just as easily be represented by a chorus of costumed Seniors. Was this ageism, back in 1964?

In all fairness, this was a Disney production; and most of the world’s population was still under the age of 20. It’s no wonder that back in 1964, most of us took it for granted that youth was the common experience that made it a small world after all. The social and demographic fact is that aging had not yet taken center stage.

More than 50 years later, the Disney lyric still rings true: It is still very much a small world. But it’s now a world which is “Small” for different reasons. Today, ours is a world knit-together by two Master Trends that are compressing and unifying our social, technological and economic space. These are The Silver Tsunami, and Globalization.

The Silver Tsunami, and Globalization: Unifying and Compressing The World

It is familiar that the world’s population is now shaped more like a rectangle than a youth-heavy pyramid. And now, more than ever before, the most influential ideas, technologies, products, and services for Seniors have gone global. They flow worldwide, sometimes in a matter of hours. I am reminded, for example, of a Korean client of mine, living not far from Flushing Meadows Park, whose family was looking at ALF’s in Queens. I recall that before they finally settled on one, they forwarded the information to Seoul, so that their Korean advisor could give them feedback. They arrived at a decision within minutes of receiving his email from Seoul. The most intimate and local of decisions had been shaped by our global connections.

What better place to celebrate this confluence of Aging and Globalization, than a publication like The Business of Aging? This is a journal whose time has come. It’s the voice of an economic sector that continues to be stimulated by The Age Wave, and energized by globalization.

What better way to acknowledge globalization than with a series called Learning from Other Cultures?

A Small World Then, and Now

The symbol of the 1964-1965 World’s Fair was the Unisphere. Even the name underscored that this was one world, and a small one after all. A glance at Figure 2 confirms that the Unisphere celebrated a world without national or political boundaries. The Unisphere was intentionally designed to make that very point.

There are no national or political boundaries on the Unisphere: 1964-1965 World’s Fair

Although it was created for the 1964-1965 World’s Fair, the Unisphere anticipated the impact of the Master-Trends being celebrated here, more than 50 years later: The power of the Silver Tsunami, and the emergence of global markets. It is still a small world, but for very different demographic, economic, and social reasons.

Our 21st-Century Unisphere celebrates a world in which national and political boundaries are being eclipsed and reshaped by global forces.

The worldwide web, the now ubiquitous http://www , which turns 25 this year.

The acceptance of non-Western paradigms, such as Acupuncture, in Western medicine, and germ-theory in non-Western healing.

Together, these forces mean that ideas, innovations and products created in one corner of the world, can be available and accessible everywhere. This series, which is called Learning From Other Cultures,will be reporting on products, services and technologies which are very much a product of these global forces, and which promise to transform the lives and social worlds of older people.

For example, two of the future installments in this series will focus, respectively, on a Senior-focused food-supplement from Singapore, and a Senior-Friendly mobile phone from India. They, along with innovations described in other installments of the series, are part and parcel of a global economy built upon the needs and desires of older people.

Learning From Other Cultures will be an ongoing series. It will showcase the business of aging as it transforms people and cultures worldwide.

Coming installments will celebrate:

The Total Lift Bed-Chair, a therapeutic device from Israel, which actually rotates 180-degrees and helps patients to sit-up, without getting out of bed; reported from Israel by Paula Adelman;

Health Food Matters, A line of food supplements from Singapore, which offer tasty new options for people who are restricted to easily swallowed and digested foods. Believe it or not, the product-line even includes vitamin-packed sprinkles; reported from Singapore by Ani Gregorian;

A Senior-Friendly mobile-phone from Mumbai, which permits automatic dialing based on the photos of people listed in the phone’s Directory (Ideal for people who easily forget names and phone numbers); reported from Mumbai by Ushma Mody;

An overview of Cuba’s Casas Abuelos, or Grandparents Homes, which offer the best of Senior Day-Care and Assisted Living; reported from Havana by Steve Minkin; and

A discussion of worldwide developments in the design of products and services for Seniors; reported by Jeff Rosenfeld.

Waiting in the wings, and still in development, are articles on The Business of Aging in Athens, Tokyo, and Buenos Aires. It is still a small world after all.